“He didn’t know we was smuggling.” That was the voice of the other man who’d been in that room with Rory.
“Shut up, Berger!”
“They need to know the truth.”
“Yes, we do,” James agreed. “So continue.”
“When he realized, he said he didn’t want a part of it, and Manton shot him.”
Silence had Kate holding her breath.
“And why was he down here with you?” James asked.
“And why did you shoot my sister?” Wolf snarled.
She heard the sound of a fist connecting with flesh.
“Someone grab him!” James roared. “We need answers before you do that, Wolf.”
“I-I was upstairs, he, Rory found us. I told him he h-had to help me get the stuff out! The g-girl, she would have told.” The words were high-pitched with fear.
“One more, Wolf,” Cam said, and there was another sound of fist meeting flesh, then James came out the door first.
“You should be resting.”
“Where is Rory?”
“He left. Max is trying to find him.”
“I need to—”
“You are not leaving this castle.” James grabbed her as she started to run. “Wolf!” he bellowed. “Come and get your sister.”
“No! I must find Rory.”
She was lifted off her feet and carried up the stairs. Once there, Wolf grabbed her shoulders.
“You cannot find him. You are still weak, and therefore not leaving. Max will bring him back.”
“B-but what if he doesn’t?” Kate let the tears fall as Wolf held her. “I need him to come back to me.”
He had no possessions,only the clothes on his back. The journey down the mountain had been taxing on his strength. The icy wind chafed his cheeks, and his shoulder ached viciously, but it simply spurred him on.
Kate believed he’d betrayed them… as did they all. And why wouldn’t they?
Because I am family,the small voice inside his head said. They should have believed him. The thought was ridiculous, and yet it was there just the same.
“You’re an idiot if you think that,” he muttered, walking down the main street of Crunston Cliff.
“You’ll catch your death out here, young man. What’s the matter with a body, walking about on Christmas Eve when you should be tucked up warm with your family?”
Mrs. Radcliff stood on the small front step of a house, glaring at him.
“Please go inside, Mrs. Radcliff, it’s cold out here.”
Darkness closed around him. Wind sliced down the street and with it sleet. Cold and unwelcoming, Rory thought, just like his mood.
He’d tried to make sense of what he’d seen in that room. One minute Kate had been nearing death, and the next… not. He’d felt the power coming from the Sinclairs as he’d stood there with his sisters pressed to his sides.
